Silver Shoes
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The Silver Shoes (also called Slippers) are fictional items created by L. Frank Baum, author and inventor of the Oz legacy, and are introduced in Baum's first Oz book. These special shoes are a beautiful and mysteriously enchanted pair of unisex footwear that holds a very strong magic within them which gives it's wearer teleporting powers. Despite being worn by women in the Oz stories, Baum's original shoes can be worn by man or woman. These shoes are specifically from the Land of Oz. In Baum's Books In the original story 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the child protagonist, Dorothy Gale wore charmed footwear which she used to send her and Toto home again at the very end of her journey. These shoes were indeed magical but were NOT made of sparkling rubies. In fact the shoes were not red at all, but simply Silver. The only thing the Ruby Slippers and the Silver Shoes both have in common is that they were once owned by the Wicked Witch of the East and will automatically take it's wearer wherever they wish to go by clicking the heels together three times. The Silver Shoes are the first magical item to be brought into the Oz adventure and are the first that are placed into the plot of the story. They make an appearance before other magic items come into the book later on like the Golden Cap. In Baum's Oz sequels many other random items are enchanted also or hold a strong power within them as well. Such as magic whistles, jewled keys, magic mirrors and most notably the Powder of Life. Baum described the Silver Shoes as being very pretty, and constructed out of real solid Silver. And then being melted into shoe-form, yet due to their enchantment, they change their size to a custom it's wearers at the time. The pair are rather easy and comfortable to walk in for it is stated that the shoe's mysterious magic, prevented them from ever being worn out. The shoes were originally descibed by Baum to be shiny, flat footed and pointed tipped at the toes. The History & Story of The Silver Shoes Not so Ruby after all... The Silver Shoes were once the property and prized possession of the Wicked Witch of the East who ruled over the Munchkinlanders who were also her slaves. The Witch was very proud of her Wickedness and also very proud of her Silver Shoes which gave her many powers. As fate would have it, the Wicked Witch was killed by a flying farmhouse that had fallen out of the sky after being swept up in a Kansas Cyclone. The house landed right on top of her, putting an end to the Witch once and for all. The Witch was so old, that she dried up quickly in the sun leaving nothing but her previous Silver Shoes behind. The house that crushed the Witch, happened to have passengers inside of it, a little girl named Dorothy and her pet dog Toto. Dorothy became the new official owner of the shoes as the Munchkins and Tattypoo the Good Witch of the North gladly gave them to her for good luck and also as a reward to thank her for setting the Munchkin people free forever from the Wicked Witch's bondage. Dorothy wore these shoes on her long journey to see the great Wizard in the Emerald City to seek his help and find her a way to get home to Kansas again. Later on during Dorothy's epic adventures, the Wicked Witch of the West tried to trick her and steal the Silver Shoes from the girl to gain more power when the Witch had captured and imprisoned Dorothy, even turning her into a kitchen slave to work inside of her yellow Winkie castle. The Witch's plans to retrieve the shoes almost worked, but in defense, Dorothy threw a bucket of water on her which ultimately destroyed her as the Wicked Witch of the West melted away. Dorothy became a hero, riding all of Oz from it's most dreaded Wicked Witches. After that Dorothy was still unaware of the charm the magic shoes had. As Dorothy ventured out seeking the beautiful Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, Dorothy was desperately hoping she could help her find a way home, as Glinda was her last hope of salvation after the Wizard was discovered to be a humbug and accidentally left her and Toto behind in his Hot-Air Balloon. Luckily, Glinda the Good kindly explained the charm to Dorothy and how to use it, which was to knock the heels together three times and command them to take one wherever they wished to go. Dorothy followed these instructions and her and Toto both were finally was sent home again at last. The Silver Shoes, however, fell off of her feet on the way back and were lost forever in the Deadly Desert. Three Times A Charm: How Dorothy Lost The Silver Shoes In the Marvel Comic book, the illustrations gives a very richly pictured sketch as to how the Silver Shoes were lost for good. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) Dorothy returned safley home again after her epic adventures in Oz, but thr shoes, however, fell off of her feet on the way back and were lost forever in the Deadly Desert. It is stated in the original book that when Dorothy used the charm of the pair, commanding them to take her home that the journey back was so very quick and fast that as the shoes took three fast steps so sudden, she did not hold on tightly enough inside of them. Also, since the Silver Shoes are enchanted, charmed items, they cannot be taken out of the realm of Oz which is filled with fairy magic, and is what gives the Silver Shoes it's power. Unlike Oz, since Kansas is a civilized land that was stripped of all it's Witches and Wizards long, long ago; It is considered a civilized country, this explains why Dorothy lost them on her way home again as magic cannot survive in an un-enchanted location. Silver Shoes-A Novel FOR OVER A CENTURY PEOPLE HAVE THOUGHT OF THE WIZARD OF OZ AS A MERE FAIRY TALE. BUT DONALD GARDNER IS ABOUT TO LEARN THE STORY OF OZ IS TRUE! When Donald Gardner's parents tell him they’ll be taking an exciting road trip through Kansas, he openly cringes. He is sure it will be a boring summer vacation. But at one of their final roadside stops on the way home, they are approached by a poor woman offering to sell a curious item—an antique shoe made out of solid silver. While Donald’s mother is initially reluctant, she is ultimately smitten with the shoe and buys it. Donald is skeptical that the shoe is anything more than a relic, but when the new school year starts, he brings it in for show-and-tell, attempting to impress his classmates. His friends liken it to something out of The Wizard of Oz, and his teacher agrees the idea is not far-fetched considering author L. Frank Baum wrote about “silver shoes,” not ruby slippers, which were strictly in the movie. Yet when he accepts a dare from his two best buddies to try it on, frightening and incredible things begin to happen. Strange animals cry out in the night. Dark, shadowy shapes lurk in distant corners. Scratching sounds are heard just outside his bedroom window. And when he meets George Clarke, a reclusive man who has been in hiding and on the run for many years, Donald finds out there is a lot more to Baum’s story than he thinks, and comes to discover that the Silver Shoe's are the same pair that a little farm girl named Dorothy wore during a fateful trip to another dimension known as Oz over one hundred years ago. Join Donald as he unravels Baum’s earth-shattering secret in …"SILVER SHOES!" The Wizard of Oz 1939 In the 1939 film starring Judy Garland the Slippers are changed from silver to Ruby-Red. This was infamously done to take advantage of new Technicolor in movie pictures in that specific era in Hollywood. See Ruby Slippers for more information. Gregory Maguire's Wicked Book 1995 In Gregory Maguire's world of Oz, he cleverly pays homage to both the 1939 film and Baum's original envision by making them both Silver and Ruby. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West'. In the book version the shoes change colors depending on the lighting. They can appear to be silver, ruby or even blue. It is revealed that Frex created them out of glass beads and Glinda enchanted them. In the musical stage version, they are silver at first but later on turn red due to a spell of Glinda's that helps Nessarose walk. Russian Slippers In Alexander Melentyevich Volkov's ''The Wizard of the Emerald City, the shoes are the source of Elly's (his version of Dorothy) protection instead of the Good Witch's kiss. She is therefore attacked by an ogre when removing them, and afterward wears them even when she sleeps. They aren't taken from the Witch's feet, but rather brought by Toto from her dwelling (a dark cave). This was possibly done to avert the problem of a person wearing them to be impossible to harm, since in that book the hurricane was created by the Witch to destroy mankind, and redirected upon her by the Good Witch of the North, who suffered no ill effects for harming her. It is said she only wore them on very special occasions. They are lost just like in Baum's book. The Wiz 1978 In this funky African-American musical version of Oz, in both Broadway play and Motown film, Dorothy's Shoes are kept Silver like in the original book. Return to Oz 1985 In Walt Disney's film Return to Oz, Dorothy's slippers are kept Ruby. After falling into the Deadly Desert when Dorothy first returned home to Kansas, they are recovered by the Nome King, who uses their powers to invade Oz, conquer the Emerald City, kidnap the King Scarecrow and turn the Ozians to cold hard stone with the help of the vain Princess Mombi. Oz was the neighboring land next to his Nome Mountain who stole his emeralds to build the Emerald City. The Muppets Wizard of Oz 2005 Dorothy's magic shoes are kept Silver in this made for TV movie and are made by Designer manolo. Syfy's Tinman mini series 2009 The spirit of Dorothy Gale aka The first Slipper meets her great granddaughter, 'D.G.' in a black and white portal dimension to give her an Emerald Charm that will help her throughout her journey in the Outer Zone aka Oz. The spirit of Dorothy resembles the Dorothy from the 1939 film, yet wears Silver Slippers upon her feet in this version instead of Ruby. Dorothy & the Witches of Oz 2011 In this version, a grown up Dorothy and inspiring children's Author, wears Silver Shoes as she remembers that her Dreams of Oz, are not Dreams after all, but a long line of suppressed memories from real adventures in Oz. ABC's Once Upon A Time Oz Episode: 2014 In the popular TV show 'Once Upon A Time', the characters from Oz are brought into the plot of the story. The Silver Shoes also make an appearance. Legends of Oz, Dorothy's Return 2014 In this CGI sequel to the Oz stories, Dorothy Gale's shoes remain Silver. Category:Magical Items